Since it was first published in April, the fate of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) final non-compete rule has been, to put it mildly, less than certain. Now, about a month before the rule is scheduled to take effect, the...more
7/31/2024
/ Employment Contract ,
Enforceability ,
Federal Bans ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Final Rules ,
Health Care Providers ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Pending Legislation ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Unenforceable Contract Terms ,
Unfair Competition
On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approved a rule banning employers from enforcing non-compete agreements for all workers, including employees and independent contractors, with limited exceptions. This new...more
To prevail on a discrimination claim under Title VII and similar anti-discrimination laws, the employee bringing suit must prove that he or she suffered an “adverse employment action” because of a legally protected...more
Department Announces Proposal to Extend Overtime Pay to Millions of Workers -
On August 30, 2023, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) announced a new proposed rule that would make approximately 3.5 million more...more
Employee handbooks are an effective tool for employers for a variety of reasons. They set the rules of the road for your organization, aid in legal compliance, and can help your managers deal with potentially difficult...more
8/1/2023
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employment Policies ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Medical Examinations ,
Off-Duty Employees ,
Paid Sick Leave ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Payroll Deductions ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Substance Abuse
Making sense of the NLRB’s effort to limit non-compete agreements.
In late May, Jennifer Abruzzo, the General Counsel for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), issued Memorandum GC 23-08, in which she expressed her...more
6/29/2023
/ Covered Employees ,
Employment Contract ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Low-Wage Workers ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Section 7 ,
Unfair Labor Practices
Performance management is one of the most important–and difficult–issues that employers face in supervising their workforce. Dealing with performance problems becomes even harder when an underperforming employee requests or...more
Q: What is the FTC, and why is my non-compete agreement any of its business?
A: The FTC is short for the Federal Trade Commission, the agency responsible for regulating, among other things, unfair methods of competition...more
On January 5, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) took a dramatic step by proposing a new rule that would prohibit companies from entering into non-compete agreements with its workers. The proposed rule, if approved,...more
2/3/2023
/ Employment Contract ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Independent Contractors ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Nonprofits ,
Physicians ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Unfair Competition
The Pennsylvania Human Relations Act (PHRA) prohibits employers with more than four employees from discriminating against employees based on certain protected classes. Last month, a state agency approved changes to the law...more
On January 13, 2022, the United States Supreme Court stayed the vaccine-or-test mandate issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) for private sector employers with 100 or more employees. This...more
1/18/2022
/ Administrative Authority ,
Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Mandates ,
Lack of Authority ,
National Federation of Independent Business v Department of Labor and OSHA ,
OSHA ,
Popular ,
SCOTUS ,
Stays ,
Temporary Regulations ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
Allegheny County recently announced that its paid sick leave ordinance - which Tucker Arensberg’s labor and employment group previously summarized here - took effect on December 15, 2021. Existing employees began accruing...more
On December 15, 2021, a federal appeals court in New Orleans lifted a nationwide stay of the rule (issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on November 4, 2021) that required COVID-19 vaccinations for...more
It depends. Although, fortunately, the Department of Labor (DOL) has issued guidance to help employers handle this often-misunderstood scenario, which got even trickier for those businesses that were unexpectedly thrust into...more
While the paid leave provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) have dominated headlines for employers lately, local businesses should take care not to forget about the Pittsburgh Paid Sick Days Act...more
As unemployment compensation claims rise to unprecedented levels in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the Pennsylvania General Assembly has amended the Unemployment Compensation Law in a manner that will outlast the...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) has published additional guidance to help employers understand and comply with their obligations under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), which takes effect next Wednesday,...more
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) takes effect on April 1, 2020.
Yesterday, the Department of Labor (DOL) published the FFCRA poster that employers must post in a “conspicuous” spot of their workplace. ...more
3/27/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Effective Date ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
New Guidance ,
Posting Requirements ,
Relief Measures ,
Sick Leave ,
State of Emergency
On Wednesday, January 23, 2019, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania rejected a “qualified” attorney-client privilege that would have changed the law in Pennsylvania governing the scope of the privilege. The qualified privilege...more
The Third Circuit recently ruled that a single extreme act of discrimination can produce an actionable hostile work environment claim. In doing so, the court clarified that the legal standard for such claims requires that an...more
The Third Circuit’s recent decision in Capps v. Mondelez Global, LLC is a mixed bag for employers. The good news is that it establishes that an employer’s honest belief that its employee misused FMLA leave can defeat a...more
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals (which handles appeals of federal cases in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and the Virgin Islands) recently ruled that a facially neutral workplace policy that disproportionately affects...more
It’s a common scenario for many employers. An employee who is terminated by the employer is offered a severance package. The employee would prefer that the severance payments are made under a 1099 (and therefore not subject...more